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UN Chief Talks with India And Pakistan About Top Pakistani Officials

March 6, 2019WorldComments Off on UN Chief Talks with India And Pakistan About Top Pakistani Officials100 Views

NEW YORK – UN chief Antonio Guterres did not speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, but he discussed with Indian and Pakistani officials’ as the tensions exacerbated after the Pulwama attack, Catch News reported on Wednesday.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have intensified following the Pulwama terrorist attack, which killed 40 members of the CRPF and allegedly claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
Following the suicide bombing, India claims that she has launched airstrikes on 26 February at the largest training camp of the JeM in Balakot, Pakistan, during which, a very large number of terrorists, coaches, senior commanders and jihadist groups were killed, yet India has provided no evidence to such happening.
The following day, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) responded and shot down a MiG-21 in an air showdown and captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who was released and handed over to India on Friday, as a Peace gesture.
“As far as I know, the Secretary-General has not had any telephone conversations with these two heads of government, but he has had contacts with both parties to express, I think, his concern and the need to do everything in his power to discourage escalating tensions,” Guterres spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.
Dujarric was asked if the UN chief had spoken to the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers about rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Last week, Dujarric said that António Guterres followed with “deep concern” the escalation of the situation between the two countries, calling on both sides to take urgent measures to reduce tensions through a “constructive mutual engagement.
The UN chief obviously follows the situation as we see it today with deep concern, and his message, publicly and privately, to both sides is to urgently take steps to reduce tensions through a constructive mutual commitment and to fulfill their responsibilities to maintain peace and security in the region, he said on Wednesday.
When asked if the Secretary-General was considering getting involved in trying to achieve a de-escalation mediation, Mr. Dujarric said that “as always”, the good offices of the UN Head are still “available if both parties or all parties, depending on the situation, agree to do so.”
In the days following the Pulwama attack, António Guterres repeatedly insisted on the importance for both sides to exercise the utmost restraint and take immediate steps to defuse the situation. Guterres reiterated his strong condemnation of the terrorist attack against the Indian security forces and said it was essential that international law be accountable and that the perpetrators of terrorist acts be promptly brought to justice.
(Sahar News Monitoring Desk)